Calla Lily
by Lovely Lily
Summary: Lily is a quiet girl who keeps to herself, and James is rather arrongant and popular. The story begins in their 5th year. It's not as cliché as some fics! hehe, I hope you like it. *chapter 5 is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!* REVIEW!
1. Dragons and Unicorns

Chapter One: Dragons and Unicorns

The sun was pouring in through the open dormitory window, and birds were singing. A slight breeze blew a curly lock of auburn hair across lily's peaceful face, causing her eyes to flicker open. She stretched, sat up, tossed aside her velvety down covers, hopped out of bed, and padded quietly to her trunk.

She quickly changed out of her pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a dark green top, then her school robe. She then awkwardly tried to pull on her classic faded black high top Converse while balancing on one leg. She pulled back half of her thick hair and clipped it in place, before she grabbed her broom that was leaning against the wall. It read_ Shooting Star _in swirly engraved silver letters.

She put her broom over her shoulder and tiptoed carefully past the sleeping figures of her peers. She made her way down staircase after staircase until she reached the Entrance Hall. She pulled open the heavy oak doors and skipped merrily over the lush Hogwarts grounds to her favorite place. 

This spot was around a bend in the castle that was slightly visible from the Gryffindor tower, in a patchy area of trees and flowers. She often retreated there to read or fly.

Lily now straddled her broom, kicked off the ground, and and soared straight up into the sky. The air rushed past her ears and hair whipped across her face. Then, when the trees were no more than the size of knuts, she began to spiral downwards and at the last minute she pulled up and flew parallel to the ground. 

She began to weave in and out of trees , and when she saw that she was approach a trickling creek on the edge of the forbidden forest, Lily stretched out flat on her broom , reached out her hand and brushed the surface of the cool water.

It was beautiful morning and one of those days where you could not help but feel content.

But after about half an hour of dodging trees and and soaring up into the wispy clouds, Lily returned to the earth with a thud, and tumbled into a tree. She giggled, dusted herself off, and began running back across the verdant grounds and into the great hall for breakfast. 

Lily found and empty seat at the Gryffindor table, sat down and began scooping porridge into her bowl. She then fumbled around in her robes until she had hold of her wand.

"Ah, there it is...." she mumbled, "_Accio_, Return of the King!" Less than a minute later her book came hovering a few inches off the ground, into the Great Hall.

Lily held the hand that was not still holding her wand, under the table, and the book landed softly in her palm. She opened her book and sat reading quietly, pausing every now and then to take a bite of her breakfast.

Then, all of the sudden a mass of of scrambled eggs came whizzing through the air and landed promptly in the center of her porridge; splattering it all over her face. She could hear hysterical laughter coming from the Slytherin table, and most other people in the hall turned to see what was going on.

Lily gave a very forced smile before wiping up the mess that had been caused. Her cheeks went pink as she scrambled around cleaning up the no longer appetizing looking meal. A decent first year girl grabbed her napkin and helped Lily clean up.

"Thank you, " Lily said sincerely, after the mess had been cleared. Lily hurried off to the common room. 

She wasn't terribly humiliated, but it was quite annoying. They didn't usually use her as a form of entertainment, since she kept herself and showed hardly any signs of reaction when they did so. 

Their favorite person to pester was a nerdy fourth year Gryffindor, named Bernie Shniglebogen. He snorted when he laughed and was easy to tick off. Lily would have felt sorry for him except he was touchy and super sensitive.

Lily climbed the stairs to the girls dormitory, picked up her book bag and headed back downstairs to her first class, Care of Magical Creatures. Again she made her way across the grounds but this time to an area of benches facing the trunk of a huge tree. It was an area near the lake, a sort of out door classroom. She sat down on the end of the bench closest to the front of the classroom.

"Good day, class," Professor Quinn began,"Today I will be putting you into groups of two, where you will decide upon a magical creature to research. You will then write a three foot long paper about your creature, and prepare an interesting presentation to show your classmates. You will be graded on your paper, and the quality of your presentation." 

A series of moans and curses came from the group of students. Professor Quinn pursed her bright red lips and then continued, 

"Your projects will be due September 25, that gives you about two and a half weeks to finish. I will now call off the groups. When you hear your name you and your partner will find a quiet area (close enough for me to see you) and decide on your creature. Black and Fig, Shniglebogen and Rasmussen, Evans and Potter...."

Lily stood up stunned. She was James Potter's partner. She really didn't know what to think of this, but she had never expected to be paired with him. James was one of the most handsome, popular guys at Hogwarts, and he knew it. James was also the captain of the Quidditch team, even though he was only a fifth year.

Lily walked over to him shyly over to him and waited patiently for his attention. He was joking with his (rather attractive) friend Sirius, without a care in the world.

"Uhh... excuse me..." Lily muttered.

"Huh?" James looked up at her from his place on the bench as if slightly insulted she had interrupted him. "Oh. That's right, the project thing. Well, see you Padfoot." He said as he got to his feet, "So, where are we going?"

"I don't care," Lily said trying to sound casual.

"How about... over there," he said steering her toward the shade of a tree.

"Okay," It wasn't as if she had much of a choice.

"All right," James said as he sat down on the ground and leaned his back against he tree, "What creature are we going to. . . " James broke of as he watched Lily pull her self into the branches of the tree and sit on a sturdy one and dangle her feet off.

"Or, we could sit IN the tree," James too pulled himself into the branches and sat next to Lily.

__

Woah, he's sitting next to me... what do I say? Uhh . . . 

"What creature do we want to pick?" She asked hesitantly.

"Don't know." James replied dully.

"We could do a--" but Lily was cut off.

"If you say Unicorn, I'll kill you. That's all you girls pick--" H too was cut off.

" I was gonna say Dragon," She said boldly. She was actually quite pleased with the look on his face.

"Oh... okay, Dragons are all right."

"Umm, so I suppose we'll ave to plan trips to the library and stuff...." Lily said nervously, hoping he wouldn't laugh at her and refuse to help with research.

"How bout, Tuesdays and Thursdays right after dinner? I'm usually free those nights. James suggested.

"Sure."

"Now lets go tell Professor Quinn what creature we picked before someone else takes it," He said as he hopped out of the tree, " And your names Lily Evans, right?"

"Yep." Was all she said because it was not necessary to ask for his.

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	2. Quidditch, eh?

a/n: um. I hope you like it.  
  
disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling the great.  
  
  
  
Chapter 2: Quidditch, eh?  
  
It was Thursday right after dinner and Lily was getting her book bag from her dorm, before she went to meet James at the library. On her way to the library she slicked on a coat of lip-gloss and pulled a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She placed the lip-gloss back inside her bag and scurried down the hall.  
  
She composed herself at the door of the library then walked in and found that James wasn't there, so she found a table near the isle of books labeled magical creatures and plants. She sat down and waited for James for about fifteen minutes, until finally she was growing impatient and began to pull out her parchment and quill before she went and found a few faithful looking books on dragons. She began scribbling away notes, glancing at her watch every now and then.  
  
She had been working for an hour now, and her eyes were tired. Disappointed and slightly hurt, She began packing up her supplies and, grabbing as many books on dragons as she could carry, before retiring to her dorm.  
  
What had she expected? It was James Potter. Why would he want to spend an evening doing homework, and with her nonetheless. Lily was looking at her feet with her load of books under her arms and her book bag over her shoulder. She was walking at a quick pace toward Gryffindor tower but when she turned the corner, she stopped suddenly and quickly hurried back around the corner, where she was hidden in the shadows.  
  
She had just seen James Potter's face pressed tightly together with that of Vanessa Chang (Cho Chang's father's sister) who had her arms wrapped around James' neck. Lily turned around and began walking the other direction. Too embarrassed to walk passed the two, Lily took the long route to the Gryffindor tower.  
  
Well what else were you expecting? I guess, I thought he just forgot, but this is worse. Oh, don't be such a baby. You are over reacting. I mean it's not like we were on a date or anything. But still, he could have had the decency to tell me that he had other uh. plans.  
  
By the time Lily reached the portrait of the fat lady her eyes had begun to droop. "Biting Faeries" She mumbled. The portrait swung open and Lily walked up the stairs to her dormitory. She dropped her books and bag at the foot of her bed, quickly changed into her pajamas, pulled back the covers of her four-poster and climbed in.  
  
The next morning after a refreshing flight Lily took her usual seat at the end of the table, picked up her wand and mumbled, "Accio Return of The King" Lily then began scooping scrambled eggs onto her plate then held out her hand expecting to feel the familiar hard surface of her book. She waited for a few minutes but the book didn't come. Assuming that she just had not enunciated her words enough, she waved her wand again and muttered, "Accio Return of The King!" five or ten minutes later she tried again- and again, and again. on about her fifth try a very sour looking professor McGonagall marched into the Great Hall and up to the teachers table.  
  
"Excuse me," McGonagall waited patiently for the attention of the students before continuing.  
  
"Whom does this belong to?" She said sternly, holding up a hard covered book. Lily was now inspecting her wand to see if there were any problems with it and was paying little attention to the professor.  
  
"I was the unfortunate recipient of a good whack on the side of the head when a novel came zooming down the hall in this direction," there was scattered laughter, and Lily looked up and realized what was wrong. Humiliated Lily stood up and said, "Uhh.that's mine professor."  
  
She could feel the eyes of every student in the hall boring into her as she made her way toward the teacher's table to retrieve her book.  
  
"Ms. Evans," McGonagall said with a shocked voice. Lily glanced to her right and saw a glint of a smile flash across James' face. Her knees trembled and she hurried toward McGonagall who handed her the book and said,  
  
"Using magic in the corridors- or Great Hall is forbidden Ms. Evans. Five points will be taken from Gryffindor and you have detention with Madam Pince in the Library tomorrow at 7:00."  
  
Face toward the ground Lily began the seemingly long walk to her seat. By then people's attention had begun to drift and conversations had started to spark up. When she reached her seat Lily grabbed her broom and trotted out of the Hall.  
  
How embarrassing. I was hoping that would never happen. Now I'll just have to bring my book with me when I go flying- Lily's thoughts were interrupted by a girl, whom was also leaving the Great Hall,  
  
"Nice one Lily!" Lily recognized the girl as Lindsey, her partner in potions from the day before.  
  
"It was an accident-" Lily started to explain.  
  
"Yeah, but that was pretty funny." The girl smiled and pulled her dark brow hair behind her ears.  
  
"But now I have detention,"  
  
"Ahh, detention with Pince isn't too bad," She said reassuringly. "You and me have Magical Creatures right now. Right?"  
  
"Yeah. Who's your partner for the project we have to do?" The two girls started walking across the damp Hogwarts Grounds.  
  
"Oh, I got stuck with Peter Pettigrew. What about you?"  
  
"James Potter."  
  
"Hey, you got James? Not fair. He's really funny,"  
  
"Yeah, it was hilarious when he didn't show up at the Library to work on our project yesterday." Lily said with a smirk.  
  
"Hah, that sounds like James alright." When they reached the Magical Creatures area the two took a seat next to a couple of other girls who were sitting on a bench near the front.  
  
"Hi guys, this is Lily. Lily this is Katrina and Emily." Lindsey gestured to the other girls.  
  
"Hello," Katrina said.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hey! You're the one who hit Professor McGonagall with the book. Nice work." Said Emily as she shook Lily's hand.  
  
"Uhh. yeah, thanks" Lily replied. Emily had blond hair that was pulled into sloppy pigtails, and Katrina had short black hair with blue streaks. Lily recognized Katrina to be one of her roommates. Emily and Lindsey were a year older than her, but they were all in Gryffindor.  
  
Professor Quinn waited patiently for the talking to cease, before giving instructions.  
  
"Today class, I want you to go with your partner to the same places you were yesterday to work on your projects. Remember, you have a little less than two weeks to complete it so I encourage you to use your time wisely. So, now split into your groups."  
  
Lily stood up and walked over to the tree where she and James met the day before. She pulled herself into the branches of the tree to wait for James. She went to reach for her quill and parchment but realized all she had was her broom and Lord of The Rings book.  
  
"Crap," She cursed to herself.  
  
"What's the matter?" James asked as he pulled himself into the tree and sat next to her.  
  
"Oh, I forgot my book bag. It had all of my notes and supplies in it."  
  
"What has gotten into you, hitting teachers with books, forgetting supplies? What's next? Not turning homework in?" James said lightheartedly.  
  
Lily glared at him and pulled out her wand, "Accio, book bag!" She said before quickly returning her wand to her pocket.  
  
"If you're caught again I'm going to laugh," James said with a grin. A split second later Lily's book bag slammed into the side of James' head causing him to lose his balance, and right as he began to fall back wards he grabbed Lily's hair and pulled her down with him.  
  
"Ahhh!" James let out a cry of pain as he hit the ground and as Lily landed on top of him. Lily burst out laughing.  
  
"What is going on over there?" Professor Quinn walked over to their tree looking very displeased.  
  
The rest of the classes' attention turned toward Lily and James. There were scattered chuckles and whistles.  
  
"Sorry Professor." Lily said, quickly hiding her laughter and scrambling off of poor smashed James.  
  
"Yeah, sorry." James said as he began to get up and massage his side throwing Lily an angry glance.  
  
The professor looked at them and waved her finger scoldingly.  
  
"Now, I don't know what you two are doing over here but it most certainly does not look like school work. Ten points from Gryffindor. Now, get to work." Professor Quinn then turned around and went back to her desk.  
  
"Ouch, that hurt!" James wined, turning his attention back to Lily.  
  
"Yeah well there's really no way to aim with that spell."  
  
"Yeah, right." He said sarcastically.  
  
"Did you really have to pull me down with you?" Lily said as she climbed back into the tree.  
  
"If I was going down you were coming with me. But I guess it wasn't the best idea since you ended up caving in my ribcage." James also returned to his place in the tree.  
  
"Hey, that was the third time you've gotten in trouble today. That must be some kind of record for you." James said in a joking manner.  
  
"Everyone acts like I've never broken a rule." Lily said as she pulled out her notes and quill.  
  
Lily looked up and saw that he giving her a "You? Break a Rule? Yeah right!" Kind of look.  
  
"Can we just get to work?" Lily asked with annoyance.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." He answered reluctantly.  
  
"By the way, where were you last night?" Lily knew exactly where he was but wanted to see how honest he was.  
  
"Last night?"  
  
"Yeah, we were supposed to meet at the library to work on the project. Remember?" Lily was enjoying this way too much.  
  
"Oh. Uh. last night. Yeah, sorry about that. I was practicing Quidditch. I get in trouble whenever I miss it."  
  
"Practicing Quidditch? Is that what the young people nowadays are calling it? Because last time I checked it was called making out." Lily grinned at James' shocked face.  
  
"How did you- " James looked confused.  
  
"Yeah, I got a bit of a nasty shock on the way back to my dormitory last night." Lily said as she was laughing on the inside.  
  
"Well. fine you caught me. I forgot about the Library thing. But maybe tomorrow?" James said apologetically, "Oh, wait. Sorry- Quidditch practice"  
  
"Ah, I have detention with Pince anyway. Maybe the day after though." Lily replied.  
  
"Sure. Sunday it is. But it'll have to be in the evening. I have a Quidditch game that afternoon."  
  
"Sure. If you don't forget." Lily said with a smirk.  
  
"I won't." Lily looked skeptical.  
  
"I promise." James said sincerely, looking Lily straight in the eyes. Lily smiled.  
  
a/n: Let me know what you think in a nice pleasant review!  
  
Thank you to the reviewers blackgreenfrogs, faith, Sirius' lover, phoenix353 (I will try to update every week), bubblegum*girl, Eleret (I am glad someone else thinks Lily should ride brooms too!), Feur (Yeah, depending on how old you think Harry's parents were when they died has an affect on whether L.o.T.R was around or not), ChaChaChic (thanks for pointing out the paragraph problem), lilypotter, and anonymous. 


	3. The Replacement

a/n: Ok here's chapter three. Wipee!  
  
Disclaimer: Everything's J.K.'s blah blah blah.  
  
Chapter 3: title  
  
  
  
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James was awake and had just finished changing into his clothes and school robe. He still had about 45 minutes until breakfast so he leaned out the window and gazed out at the abundantly green grounds. It was a beautiful breezy day and every now and then owls would swoop past his window who were either delivering mail or just enjoying the weather. Then, James saw something - someone. Flying around. The small figure would zip strait up into the sky and dive back down behind the trees doing loops, figure eights, all sorts of things.  
  
Why is someone flying around this early? Maybe it was just someone on the team practicing up for the big match against Slytherin on Sunday- Whoa! A Thesues Lindenwald! (A difficult Quidditch move, also a signature move of James' favorite Quidditch player) Wow I that was really good. Whoever that is sure knows their stuff. It took me almost a year to learn it. I wonder who it is..  
  
"James. What are you looking at?" Asked a sleepy eyed Sirius.  
  
"Huh? Oh nothing."  
  
"Man," Sirius said "we've got another good half an hour of sleeping time till we need to go to breakfast."  
  
"Oh. I couldn't sleep."  
  
"Whatever." Sirius mumbled as he rolled back over and pulled the covers over his head.  
  
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Lily had brought her book bag, and Lord of The Rings book with her when she went flying that morning, just to be on the safe side. She couldn't handle another day like the on before. Although she sort of regretted it since her stuff was now damp from the dew on the grass. But now she was eating her breakfast and thoroughly enjoying her book. Lily was pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice without taking her eyes from the page but she nearly spilled when she was startled by a close friend of James'. It was Remus, probably one of James' more decent friends. Remus was standing at the chair directly in front of her when he asked her politly, "Uhh. is this seat taken?"  
  
"No, go ahead." Lily replied.  
  
"Thank you." Remus sat down and pulled out his own book titled Dealing With The Dark Arts.  
  
"How's the book?" Lily asked curiously.  
  
"It's terribly interesting, how about yours?"  
  
"Oh I've read it before, but it's been a while. I love it." Lily replied, "How come you aren't with your friends?"  
  
" When they began flinging their breakfasts at one another I decided to retreat before things got too messy."  
  
"Smart." Lily glanced down the table towards James who had begun striking Slytherins with his breakfast.  
  
Lily continued to watch James and his boyish grin.  
  
He's almost charming at times. And funny. And smart. Gah! What's wrong with me? I hardly know him. it's not like I like him or anything. Nah, he seems like such a slacker. He probably won't show up to work on our project, Sunday. Oh, but look at his smile..  
  
Remus followed her glance and raised his eyebrows; then he was about to say something but decided against it. A few moments later he said "Seems they're becoming bored."  
  
"Wha- oh, yeah." She realized that she had probably been looking at James' long enough for Remus to notice, and she blushed and looked down at the table.  
  
"Well, I'm going to head over to Potions class." Remus said as he packed away his book. "Would you care to join me?"  
  
"Sure." She replied. She heaved her book bag onto her shoulder and they started off for potions.  
  
"Your name's Lily, right?" Remus said.  
  
"Yeah." They had barely reached the door of the Great Hall when the sound of tramping feet reached their ears, and they were suddenly joined by James and Sirius.  
  
"Hey, Remus you didn't wait for us." James said sourly.  
  
"Sorry. I didn't want to take you guys away when you had only begun throwing things at the Slytherins."  
  
"Yeah, whatever. We all know you were just sneaking off with some girl to an empty classroom so you could make out." Sirius said with an evil grin. "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean, know what I mean?" (tee hee Monty Python.)  
  
Lily looked at the ground uncomfortably, Remus rolled his eyes and James laughed.  
  
"We were just going to Potions Sirius." Remus said irritably.  
  
"Sure you were-" Sirius said playfully.  
  
"Come on lets just get to Potions." James said as he began to lead the way.  
  
"By the way; what's your name my dear?" Sirius asked Lily on their way to the dungeons.  
  
"I'm Lily."  
  
"Ah, yes the infamous book thrower,"  
  
"Thanks," She said.  
  
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It was 6:45 and Lily was on her way to her detention in the Library, and James was waiting with some of the Quidditch team for Sirius to show up for practice. He was always late.  
  
James remembered the person he had seen flying that morning and decided to bring it up.  
  
"Hey were any of you guys practicing this morning?" He asked nonchalantly.  
  
"Umm. should we have been?" One of the guys asked hesitantly. He was the newest member of the team and he wasn't sure if this was some type of twisted way to get them in trouble.  
  
"No, just wondering."  
  
"Yeah, I was." Said a gangly red head boy, "Practicing up for the big game- "  
  
"Oh, shut up you slept in till ten." Said one of his roommates giving him a shove.  
  
"It wasn't me."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Not me."  
  
James received from the rest of the team.  
  
"Hey, Jamsie. Can we get started without Sirius? He's Probably forgotten about practice." Said his friend Sean.  
  
"Fine, lets go." James said grabbing his broomstick and walking with the rest of the team onto the field where he released the balls, mounted his broom and zoomed straight into the air.  
  
James began looking for the snitch as he circled the field. Sean was zooming toward Rachael, who had the quaffle, but she tossed it to Sam before Sean could get it.  
  
The only beater has his hands full trying to keep a very persistent bludger from knocking Sam from his broom while the second bludger was left unguarded.  
  
A few minutes later Sean caught the quaffle when Sam's throw was blocked by the keeper and Sean grabbed the ball before Sam could get it again.  
  
A moment later Sean was zooming toward his own goal and slowed down to toss the quaffle to his team mate Chelsea, when he was struck hard in the back by a mean bludger. He lurched forward over the front of his broom but managed to grab hold of it and started to spiral slowly toward ground dangling from the broomstick. Several teammates dove after him but as they did his hand slipped and he plunged downwards. James dived after him but he was far away to begin with. The team watched helplessly as he slammed into the earth.  
  
His teammates flew after him and crowded around his limp body. "Chelsea," James said hurriedly, "go fetch Madam Pomfrey. And quick. Tom, conjure up a stretcher." His orders were fulfilled and James knelt beside his friend and rolled him over onto his back.  
  
"Oh, my god. Is he dead?" Rachel asked apprehensively.  
  
James felt his wrist for a pulse and said, "No, he'll be fine." James pulled off his Quidditch robe, folded it up and set it under Sean's head.  
  
A few minutes later Madame Pomfrey, Madam Hooch and Chelsea were running towards them. They gingerly lifted Sean onto the conjured stretcher and started off towards the castle at a quick pace.  
  
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James and Sirius came trudging into the Great Hall for breakfast, late the next morning. Both looked like they had received little sleep. With their drooping eyelids, and sloppy hair James accidentally bumped into Lily, who was leaving the Great Hall. Lily's broom clattered to the floor at James' feet and James just stepped over it, without a word and continued on his way.  
  
Lily could understand that James was upset, especially with the big game against Slytherin the next day. So she just picked up her broomstick without complaint and left.  
  
James was pouring himself some pumpkin juice and Sirius had his head buried in his hands.  
  
"It's alright Siri. It's not your fault; you forgot and I should have reminded you." James said, trying to comfort his guilty feeling friend.  
  
"I'm so stupid. I should have been paying more attention. If I could have just got to practice on time, Sean would have been fine and able to play Sunday."  
  
"Don't worry, McGonagall said we have all day to find a replacement."  
  
"We're not gonna find anyone better than Sean." Sirius murmured.  
  
"Hey, at least we still get to play." James said.  
  
"Do you have anyone in mind?" Sirius asked halfheartedly.  
  
James' mind flashed to the morning before when he saw the person flying before breakfast. "Sort of," he said, "I saw someone flying but I'm not sure who it was."  
  
"That narrows it down a bunch. How do we even know if it was a Gryffindor?"  
  
"Oh." James said pausing to think a minute.  
  
"Come on James, lets start interviewing people. See if anyone's good enough to be on the team."  
  
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By 3:45 the Gryffindor Quidditch team had practically given up on finding a replacement. The team was sitting in the Gryffindor common room trying to figure out what they were going to do.  
  
"Arthur Weasly's not bad." Rachel said.  
  
"He's not very coordinated." Sirius said. "Would you rather use Arthur or Peter?" Sam asked with a duh kind of look on his face.  
  
"God! Anyone but Peter." Chelsea cried.  
  
James, who had been silent for quite some time, suddenly leapt out of his chair and exclaimed, "Lily!" And bolted out of the common room.  
  
He paused outside the common room and thought,  
  
Where would she be? Probably the library.I'll check there first. Man, why didn't I think of it before? She had her broom at breakfast, and in class that one day- of course it's her!  
  
He sprinted down corridors and down staircases he was more than half way to the Library when his girlfriend (Vanessa Chang) stopped him.  
  
"Hey Jamsie where ya going?" She said as she grabbed him around the neck.  
  
"I have to find Lily."  
  
"Who?" She said looking affronted.  
  
"Look. We can talk later, this is important." He said before pulling Vanessa off of him and continuing toward the Library.  
  
When he got there, he was out of breath and leaned on a chair while he scanned the place for Lily. He saw her sitting, alone in a corner with a book. She was wearing a long sleeved black shirt that contrasted well with her fiery hair, and she seemed oblivious that anyone else was even in the room. And for a minute James thought she was the most beautiful person in the world.  
  
He walked over to her and touched her on the shoulder. Startled, she looked up and her bright green eyes locked with his Smokey gray ones.  
  
"Uh. hi James. What are you doing here?" She asked with a puzzled look.  
  
"Was that you? The person I saw flying yesterday morning?"  
  
"What? You saw me!" She cried. Madam Pince threw her an angry glance. James grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her out of the library.  
  
He dropped her hand and said, "Would you like to be our replacement player for our Sunday game?"  
  
&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&  
  
a/n: Yay! I finished chapter three!!! Ok, the next chapter might take me a while to write because I am going to have to write out the Quidditch game, and I'm not too good at that. And I check reviews every day so if you have some constructive criticism, or ideas, or comments it would be most appreciated. You reviewers inspire me to write! Thanks again. (Oh! I only used the word then, once in this chapter ; ) 


	4. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

a/n: Hi. Please don't eat me! I know this took FOREVER to write, but it was really tough. I am so sorry. Plus all the technical difficulties. I probably don't even have people wanting to read this fic anymore. mememe. oh well.  
  
Here it goes!  
  
Disclaimer: I own only my plot and portrayal of the characters, which J.K. Rowling created.  
  
Chapter 4: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin  
  
"You. want me, to be the replacement player for your team?" Lily asked nervously.  
  
"Yes. I saw you flying yesterday and. well, you're very good. We would make you a chaser." James said looking at the ground. "So will you?"  
  
"Um, I'm not sure." Lily trailed off`, but said (when she saw James' pleading glance) "alright."  
  
James and Lily went to the Gryffindor tower, where James introduced Lily to his team. Several people looked at her skeptically as they went off to the Quidditch field to practice with their new chaser, and (in some cases) see if she was any good.  
  
On the way to the field Sam pulled James aside and whispered, "James, is this girl as good as you say she is? Because I don't think it's wise to make her the replacement only because you think she's hot-"  
  
"Look, Sam." James said grabbing Sam by the collar, "I'm the captain. I say she plays, and nothing you say can change that. She's good. And that's the reason I picked her." With that James let him go and spun back around, toward the field.  
  
Sam stood stunned. How could he have made James that angry over such a small thing? Maybe he really did like the girl. After few seconds Sam rejoined the rest of the team.  
  
_-*-_*-*_-*_*-*_*-*_*-*_  
  
That night Lily returned to her dorm sweaty and in high spirits. Their practice was long and hard but she loved it. She had never played Quidditch with anyone but herself and this experience was much different than that. She loved to watch Quidditch games but had never had anyone to play with. Lily showered quickly and pulled on her Pajamas. Then she sat by her window and gazed at the vivid moon and stars.  
  
Her thoughts drifted to her overwhelming day. and she eventually fell asleep with her head cradled in her arms.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
James' sleep was restless and after much tossing and turning he sat straight up in bed. His watch read 5:30am. James realized that he had forgotten to go over some of the strategies with Lily that they used against Slytherin. He rolled out of bed and pulled on his dark jeans, a white collard shirt and a black sweater over it. He pulled on his black boots and lastly pulled a comb through his thick hair.  
  
He wandered out of his dorm and toward the fifth year girl's dormitory. He carefully let himself in and his eyes quickly scanned the room for Lily.  
  
He found her curled up by the window, with her head resting on her arm. He went to shake her awake but stopped himself when he saw the tranquil look on her face.  
  
Her pale skin looked porcelain under the waxing moon. Her lips were slightly parted and he could hear her soft breathing. He could have stood there all night watching the luminous scene. James shook his head as if returning from a dream then pulled the covers from her bed and draped them over her still form.  
  
He really didn't need to tell her about the tactics they used on the Slytherins because one- they were rather obvious, and two, she was a quidditch fan and watched games and probably caught on quickly to tactics. He could also go over them with her briefly at breakfast.  
  
Maybe he was just using it as an excuse to see her.  
  
*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))*))  
  
After a quick breakfast the Gryffindor team went to locker rooms to get on their uniforms. James gave Lily her own red Quidditch robe, wrist and knee guards.  
  
She found a quiet corner and pulled on the robe, and strapped on the other gear while listening to James' pep talk.  
  
"This is it." James began, "The biggest game of the year. I know that Sean's injury was hard on all of us, but we'll catch them off guard when they see how good we are even after losing a great player like Sean. Those slimy Slytherin won't know what hit 'em!" The team shouted gaily then James continued, " Their strategy is pure strength and force, but they'll soon see that what you really need is a team full of clever, reliable, and brave people.."  
  
Lily's mind wandered as she looked around at the grinning faces of the Gryffindor team.  
  
He sure is good talking in front of people. He knows exactly what to say to get 'em revved up. I wonder what he's thinking on the inside..  
  
Lily's thoughts were soon broken by some more shouts of glee. The team started to run out onto the field. Lily followed, and James slowed his pace to be beside Lily.  
  
"So. Are ya nervous?" James asked.  
  
"No. Not really.." Lily's voice drifted off as she looked around at the stands and saw almost all of Hogwarts watching.  
  
"Good." James said as he patted her on the back, and trotted off to meet the Captain of the Slytherin team at center field.  
  
The stands were a blur of color and noise.  
  
She watched James somberly shake the hand of the Slytherin captain. Then the teams straddled their brooms, waiting for Madam Hooch's signal. She blew the whistle and they were off.  
  
The Quaffle was tossed up and the Slytherins snatched it first and zoomed toward the goal posts, knocking Gryffindors out of their way as they went.  
  
Lily snatched it as the captain tried to toss the ball to a teammate, and rushed toward the opposite goal, and scored.  
  
Cheers erupted from the Gryffindors.  
  
"Wow, first goal is made by the Gryffindors' new replacement player, Lily Evans!" Lily had to fight a grin as she heard the announcer.  
  
"Now Slytherin's in possession, Edmond Harris is going for a goal, but thrown off course by a bludger."  
  
Chris stole the Quaffle and passed to Lily who headed again toward the goal, but passed to Rachel as several Slytherins began to close in on her.  
  
".and Gryffindor scores again!"  
  
"Nice one Rachel!" James shouted.  
  
"Gryffindor leads 20 to 0!"  
  
James was circling the field, bent on finding the snitch before Slytherin could make a goal. Every now and then, James glanced at the Slytherin's seeker. Jake Cromwell. He was smaller than James, and quick as a bullet but had no tactic. James knew he had to find the snitch first.  
  
"Gryffindor scores again! Better get moving, Slytherin."  
  
(a/n: I know this game stinks but bear with me.)  
  
Then James saw it. The glint of gold just darted behind Lily. The Slytherins seeker was on the other side of the field, now was his chance.  
  
In a flash, James blew past Lily. She spun around to watch him, and noticed the Slytherin gaining quickly on him. To avoid him James took a steep dive for the snitch-  
  
"Lily, watch out!" Lily, (who had been too swept up in James' amazing flying skills, had neglected to realized the danger of parking in the middle of a quidditch game) spun around and felt the dramatic impact of a bludger in her side.  
  
She jolted and gripped her side, and her eyes welled with tears. Her teammate Chris flew to her aid. He steadied her on her broom, just as cheers erupted from the Gryffindors.  
  
They had won. James was gripping the snitch in his fist as Jake looked on with a venomous glare.  
  
James was basking in his glory, when he saw Lily being guided down by Chris as she grasped her side. James dropped the snitch and ran over to them.  
  
"What happened?!" James shouted as he ran over to her and helped sit her down on the ground.  
  
"I- I think it cracked my ribs." She said stifling her tears.  
  
Seeing her tears made his knees weak.  
  
"Oh no--" James said and kneeled down in front of her. The rest of the team was down now and crowded around her.  
  
Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfree , pushed their way through the crowd and helped Lily up and back toward the castle.  
  
James was following quickly behind them, as Vanessa Chang caught up to him.  
  
"JAMES! Where are you going? You didn't even wait for me, James! What is going on?" Vanessa pouted.  
  
"Look Vanessa, this is not a good time." He said quickening his pace.  
  
"What do you mean not a good time? I am your girlfriend and if you know what is best for you, you'll make time!" She screeched.  
  
James slowed to a halt.  
  
"What?! What's so important that I can't even go take care of my injured friend?!" James yelled.  
  
"You know what, I am sick of HER getting all of the attention! I don't understand what has gotten into you lately, and like when you shoved me out of your way the other day."  
  
She looked up at James with the best puppy dog eyes she could summon up, and bit her lip. "You just *sniffle* told me you were looking for Lily. and and pushed right passed me Jamsie." She actually got tears to come to her eyes and she went to hug James but he pulled her off.  
  
"Look-- I don't have the time or patience to discuss this with you right now." And he jogged back towards the castle leaving Vanessa very cranky indeed.  
  
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*  
  
a/n: ok I really hated that chapter. I just needed to get that awful quidditch game out of the way. But reviews are still very much appreciated! If you have some advice for quidditch games in the future, or plot flow suggestion let me know. I'm sorry that chapter took so long to get out! 


	5. Snape?

A/N: Hi there! I want to let everyone know that I have changed my mind so now James and Lily are in fifth year, not fourth. (It's more logical). Anyway, I hope to be updating more regularly than once a year! I think I have lost quite a few readers because I have taken so long in the past to update, but I hope the people who do read my story, really enjoy it. So go read!

Disclaimer: JKR owns all . . . you know the rest.

Chapter 5: Snape?

Lily in the hospital wing staring up at the ceiling humiliated. Before she was even given the putrid potion to mend her ribs, the complete shock of her injury overtook her; and caused her breakfast to erupt. She was lucky to make it to the bathroom in time. 

But the worst part was James seeing her in this condition. He had followed her to the hospital wing and seen the horrid display. Still he stayed with her until the nurse dismissed him.

She only had fifteen minutes left until the potion had completely mended her fractured bones. In the mean time she kept replaying the whole day in her head . . . it had taken an odd unexpected turn . . .

The tick of the clock hanging on the wall resounded in her head, until she had heard the tick tock exactly 900 times.

Then Madame Pomfrey poked her in and hollered, "Evans, you're free to go."

Lily sat up slowly and gingerly felt her side-- it was perfectly normal. She stood up and walked quickly from the hospital wing, and made her way to the library. She needed a few books for her classes and while she was there she wanted another book to read; to get her mind off things . . .

When she stepped inside the common room that evening she saw all of the Gryffindors talking and stuffing their mouths full of treats. It was a customary party the winning team always threw.

When people noticed her step in, cheers burst from their full mouths. She was greeted with congratulations and several pats on the back.

She smiled shyly and worked her way toward the staircase leading to the girl's dormitories. She took a seat a few steps up so she had an ideal spot to watch the party. 

Remus walked over to her with his hands in his pockets and took a seat next to Lily.

"Hey, nice job as chaser today." Remus complimented.

"Thanks, it was fun," Lily said with a smile, "Well, except for that embarrassing accident I had there."

"Haha, it wasn't too awful." He said reassuringly.

Lily began to think about what had caused her to get in the accident in the first place . . . she had been watching James fly instead of paying attention to the game.

She buried her face in her hands, "It really was my own fault . . . if only I had been paying attention." Where was that distraction (James) anyway? Lily began to scan the room . . ..

"James went off somewhere to talk to his girlfriend." Remus said as if reading her mind.

"Oh I- I was just wondering where he got off to." She stammered.

"Miss Chang was not terribly pleased with James' accompanying you to the hospital wing this afternoon," He said giving her a sidelong glance.

Lily's eyes widened.

__

I can't believe it, she's jealous of . . . he shouldn't have come with me . . . 

"Oh . . ." Lily said awkwardly, "--Well I'm going to grab some food. Would you like anything?" She said standing up.

"Oh, no thank you. I've had quite enough. I think I'll head up to my dorm now," He watched her walk away and said softly, "Goodnight Lily."

She got a plateful of goodies and returned to her spot on the stairs.

Around five minutes later her plate was clean and she went upstairs, slipped into pajamas, picked up her new book, and returned to her seat on the stairs.

Lily was five pages into the book when James stepped into the common room with Vanessa attached to his arm. Again, cheers burst from the sugar happy crowd, followed by congratulations.

"Nice game today!"

"What a win!"

"You were awesome!"

. . . and other such praises of approval.

Lily watched Vanessa's glowing face as she held James' hand. She was loving all of the attention . . .

Vanessa looked up and saw Lily starring at her and James, so she snuggled in closer to him. James put his arm around her waist.

Lily couldn't stay there any longer; she stood up and walked up the stairs to her dormitory.

James' eyes followed.

Lily did not know why it bothered her so much to see Vanessa with James. _It's not as if I have a chance with him . . . he is cute, funny, and even smart when he wants to be . . . but I cant like him. Everyone like James Potter, it would be silly. He's too big headed anyhow . . ._

Lily still couldn't help feeling a certain fondness for him, however.

(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*

Lily sat in the first empty seat she saw, near the front of the potions classroom.

She looked over and saw that she was sitting by Severus Snape. He was a quiet, but bitter Slytherin boy, who was constantly teased by Gryffindors. 

He sat slouched with his chin length black hair covering most of his face, as he scribbled something on a piece of parchment. Lily pulled out her supplies and waited for class to begin. 

The bell sounded and everyone took his or her seats. She saw James sit next to Sirius a few seats over; she wondered where Remus was . . . . Several minutes later the teacher had everyone partnered with his or her neighbor to make a sleeping potion.

"Hi, I'm Lily." She said politely turning to Snape.

"I'm Snape." He said as he began to pour ingredients into their cauldron.

"So . . . is there something I can do?" She asked hesitantly.

"You could . . . cut up those roots." He said without ceasing his work.

She picked up the roots and started chopping. She noticed Severus glance over at her.

"Are these cut okay?"

"They're fine"

They continued to work in silence. He worked quickly and flawlessly so their potion was finished far before any other. They were forced to wait for the rest of the class to finish. So they sat in an awkward silence.

Lily scanned the table for something to keep her occupied; she noticed what was obviously a sketchbook, on the far end.

"What kind of things do you draw?" Lily asked curiously.

"What? Oh . . . I don't know . . ." He replied without looking at her.

"May I see them?" She asked with a nervous smile (which was completely wasted, as he still was not looking at her).

"No . . . I don't think . . ."

"Oh no, I understand . . ." She said, somewhat embarrassed she had even asked. 

They sat in a painful silence for several seconds before Snape reluctantly held the sketchbook out in front of her.

She smiled as she grasped the beautiful leather-bound book in her hands; it had a worn old tree imprinted on the cover silver lettering that read: sketchbook.

She flipped slowly through it, examining each page carefully. 

There were pictures of magical creatures, people, and plants. Most were rather dark, but not as depressing as she expected. They were all magnificently done and some looked so real you could almost reach into them and touch things.

"Oh wow . . . these are . . . they're beautiful." She said as she turned the pages. Snape leaned over to see what picture she was looking at because she had paused on one; it was a detailed drawing of a phoenix.

The drawings ignited a minute conversation between Snape and Lily.

James watched as Lily turned the pages of Snape's book. She was smiling and kept looking over at Snape and they started talking to each other. They weren't talking a lot but he knew those were words passing between them. What was she doing?! Did she not realize whom she was speaking to?

__

Maybe it's just a pity conversation . . . but she looks so happy, She's never looked at me like that . . . did she just giggle? Snape isn't witty, what's going on here? . . . 

"Woah, Lily's fraternizing with the enemy!" Exclaimed Sirius who was observing the same scene as James.

"I know . . . it's disgusting."

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

After the bell rang Lily made a left out of the classroom and Snape made a right. She was in fairly high spirits and Snape was not as bad as everyone made him out to be . . .

She was on her way to the common and about halfway there, James and Sirius caught up with her.

"So when ca we plan the wedding?" Sirius asked jestingly.

"Um . . . what?" She wasn't sure what they were talking about.

"He's talking about you and Snape." James explained.

"What?! No . . . come on . . ." She pleaded.

"No, I think you were flirting with Snape, young lady. Don't you think James?"

"I um-- well yes. That's what it looked like." He replied somewhat downtrodden.

"Pumpernickel." The moment the portrait door swung open, they were ambushed by a sly looking girl with sleek black hair.

"There you are James. I've been waiting for you!" Said a slightly irritated but peppy Vanessa, glancing at Lily.

"Well, I'm here now." James replied with almost realistic enthusiasm.

"Fine," Sirius said rather irritated, "I'll just wait here then, shall I?" He called sarcastically after James.

James looked over his shoulder with a look of disgust at the bubbly group surrounding him; Vanessa saw that look.

*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)

After dinner Lily and James met in the library to work on their report on dragons, for Care of Magical Creatures. When she walked into the library, James was already fast at work with a large stack of books. Lily smiled to herself and went and took the seat across from him at the table.

"Well, look at who decided to show up." James said as Lily sat down.

"I'm only three minutes late." 

"I'm sure you were off playing Quidditch' with Snape somewhere . . ." James smirked.

Lily blushed and looked at the table, "Are you ever going to drop that?" She mumbled, more to herself than to James.

"Highly doubtful. Kiss me and I'll think about it." James said with a sly grin.

"Excuse me?" Lily's voice trembled. She looked utterly shocked.

"Haha, just kidding. Wow, you looked really worried there for a moment."

Lily swallowed hard, then looked down. "So-so I-I-I, suppose we should um . . . uh, divide up the work then?" She said talking to the table.

James fidgeted slightly.

__

Maybe I shouldn't have said that . . . I don't want to scare her. Oh god, she looks so uncomfortable. . . . 

"Lily, I'm-- I'm sorry. I'll stop screwing around." He said as if he was begging her to not be intimidated. 

"So lets get stared, shall we?" He said trying to get back on task, "What were you saying about dividing up the work?" He asked gently.

"Well I was, um . . . thinking that maybe I would work on the essay and you could start the presentation . . ." She said quietly.

"That sounds great." 

Lily got out her supplies and started flipping through her notes.

__

Why did he . . . I wasn't expecting that at all. . . . How am I going to write an essay with this on my mind? . . .

James watched Lily flip blindly through her notes; she obviously was not thinking of schoolwork at the moment. . . . James sighed then got up and pulled a dusty book from a nearby shelf.

The two worked in silence (except for a brief question of the other, every now and then) for about an hour, when James interrupted the quiet.

"Hey Lily! Watch this--" Lily looked up to see an excited James standing across from her, with a ready wand. "_Projectio Horntail!"_

A life size projection of a Hungarian Horntail appeared in the center of the library and let out a burst of flame from its mouth.

Everyone else in the library shrank back in fear, and Lily put a hand over her mouth. A split second later, the lifelike image vanished.

James looked over at Lily and smiled. 

"That was, Amazing!" Lily said with wide eyes.

"I know. Haha . . . Hey can you make me a list of the most important breeds of dragons? I want to be able to do them all." He said sitting down.

Twenty minutes later Lily had more than half the paper written, and James was able to do a life-size projection of ten different types of dragons.

"Well, that's enough for now. Don't you think?" He said as he stretched, leaned back in his chair, and ruffled his untidy black hair.

"Fine . . ." Lily trembled slightly at the sight, "When are we going to finish it up?"

"Tomorrow sound good?" He asked.

Lily nodded.

"Now, how about we sneak down to the kitchens for a Butterbeer." James said slyly as he stood up and walked with Lily out of the library.

"Well, I suppose . . ." She glanced around nervously expecting a teacher, or worse-- Vanessa Chang, to overhear them. 

Lily followed James down several floors until the reached they entrance hall. Then they made a left and soon found themselves walking down a dimly lit passageway which ended at a painting of a bowl of fruit.

James winked at her then reached up and tickled the pear on the canvas, which chuckled before transforming into a doorknob. Once they were inside, several eager house-elves bounded toward them.

"Master James has brought a guest!" One of the elves squeaked.

"This is Lily." He said smiling at them and gesturing to her, "Could we have two Butterbeers?"

"Yes sir, of course sir." And with several bows they scattered to fulfill their order. 

"Great service, isn't it?" James said, leading Lily over to the table in concurrence with the Gryffindor table above.

"Wow." Lily replied as the house-elves brought them not only two Butterbeers, but two large platters of goodies.

James took a swig of his drink and then tried to start a conversation, as Lily was fidgeting uncomfortably in the silence.

"So. What do you want to be when you grow up?" He asked taking another drink.

"That was random." She grinned and took a drink herself.

"Just a conversation starter."

"Well . . . I suppose my dream career would be an Auror," She paused thinking James might laugh at this, but he only smiled, "But I don't think it would please my parents much." She said somewhat quickly. She was feeling rather nervous.

"Really? An Auror? That's what I want to do too, especially with the rise of this Voldemort fellow. You've heard about him, haven't you?"

"Oh yes. He sounds horrible, I wonder if he'll still be around by the time we're old enough to help."

"He might. He sounds a lot more powerful than the past threats of dark wizards."

Lily nodded then hiccuped.

James chucked, "Maybe you should slow down."

"Me?! Your bottle is almost empty!"

"Hmm. So it is . . ." James paused for a moment and looked at Lily, "I don't know how we've been at Hogwarts together for the past four years and hardly ever spoken." 

"I don't know . . . I'm just quiet." She said looking slightly embarrassed.

"We'll have to change that won't we?" He laughed, "You should come pranking with me and the guys sometime," She looked at him with shock and fear, "Oh come on, we almost never get caught."

"I don't know . . . maybe." She said, because it did sound like fun, but the risky kind of fun. The kind of fun she never had.

James and Lily talked for a while longer and had about three Butterbeers each. When they left the kitchen it was about 9:45pm. They began the hike to the Gryffindor tower laughing as they went.

Lily tried to quiet down a little since Filch was probably lurking somewhere in the depths of the castle. 

On the fifth floor James stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it?" Lily whispered.

Then she noticed Ms. Norris crossing the hallway in front of them and gasped. James put his hand over her mouth and pulled her into a broom cupboard to their right. She was pressed awkwardly between the door of the cupboard and James. She adjusted slightly and held her breath hoping she wouldn't cough or sneeze or make any other noises. 

They heard Filches footsteps echo down the hall and heard them fade away in the opposite direction. They waited a moment just to be sure he was gone, then Lily smiled with relief and the two started laughing. James pushed open the door but Lily stumbled slightly on the way out and he caught her around the waist. A few seconds later their laughter had began to die down, but James was still holding Lily when they heard a voice behind them.

"Ahem," There was Chang, with her arms crossed and her eyes piercing. 

"Vanessa," James said pleadingly, "This isn't what you think." Lily squirmed uneasily.

"I can't believe you." Vanessa looked on the verge of tears, so she spun on her heel and ran toward the Gryffindor tower.

"No, Vanessa. Come back!" James shouted, then trotted after her with out so much as a glance at Lily.

Lily stood stunned for several minutes before she could process what had just happened.

She and James Potter had fallen, giggling from a cupboard . . . he even had his arm around Lily. She knew what the scene must have looked like to Chang. 

Why did this have to happen to her? It made no sense. Quiet, innocent, Lily Evans was now going to be made out as a boyfriend stealer. It could have easily been any other girl in Hogwarts that James invited for a Butterbeer, but it was Lily. Now she was stuck in the middle of something awful, and it wasn't even her fault.

__

Why?! He didn't have to ask me to have Butterbeer with him . . . I didn't have to say okay when he asked me. . . . But I can't believe he just left me like that. If he really liked her he wouldn't be hanging around other girls so much . . . he didn't even look at me before running after her. So, now what do I do? I can't stand here much longer or Filch will catch me . . . 

Lily hesitated a moment before starting toward the Gryffindor Tower.

Lily entered the common room hoping she wouldn't find Vanessa waiting with clenched fists; surprisingly she didn't.

She looked around and saw that most of the Gryffindors were still awake, but many were whispering to each other and a gasp escaped from a group of girls when Lily stepped into the room.

She saw James sitting by the fire holding his shaggy head in his hands, and walked uncertainly towards him. But using her better judgment she stopped short. 

James heard her footsteps and quickly stood up and walked to the staircase of the boy's dormitory. He disappeared without a word.

The whispering the common room got louder and more excited and pounded in Lily's ears. 

Lily walked quickly to her empty dorm and curled up on her bed, lonely and confused.


End file.
